british travel writer peter

Peter Fleming (1907-1971)

IMDbPro Starmeter See rank

• 1960 • 1 ep

• Self (as Colonel Peter Fleming)
• 1970 • 1 ep
• Self - Panellist
• 1956 • 1 ep
• short story

Personal details

• Colonel Peter Fleming
• May 31 , 1907
• London, England, UK
• August 18 , 1971
• Black Mount, Argyllshire, Scotland, UK (heart attack)
• Celia Johnson December 10, 1935 - August 18, 1971 (his death, 3 children)
• Children Kate Grimond
• Relatives Amaryllis Fleming (Half Sibling)
• Other works Book: "One's Company".

Did you know

• Trivia Is the brother of author Ian Fleming .

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Ten Icons Of British Travel Literature You Should Read

Britain has a long history of travel writing with roots dating back to the early explorers. In recognition of these veterans, we present a list of 10 of the best modern British travel writers, who have taught us a thing or two about anthropology, geography, history and travel.

Freya Stark

Stark is known for her extensive travels around the Middle East and her position as one of the first Westerners to venture to some of the most dangerous areas in southern Arabia and western Iran . She wrote many books on her travels, including T he Valleys of the Assassins (1934), and is revered as a true explorer. As one of the first Western writers to travel so widely and extensively, she was not only famed for her adventurous attitude but her writings themselves, which create a vivid picture of the people and places she encountered. Her writings reveal to us new cultures and carry us with her, and this desire to experience new places is after all, why we read travel literature.

An Anglo-Welsh writer, poet and naturalist, Thomas passed away in 1917 during the Battle of Arras at just 39. His poetry, written from 1914 onwards, focuses on his time as a soldier in World War I and he is regarded as one of the greatest British poets of the 20th century. He wrote directly about travel in 1914 with In Pursuit of Spring . This book follows Thomas as he travels from London to Somerset in his search for this elusive season. A sign of what was to come later in his career, the book is incredibly poetic in style and deals with the complex existence of man within nature. As he steadily delves further into the natural countryside, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern between reality and imagination within the novel.

Robert MacFarlane

MacFarlane is another writer inspired by nature. He released his first book in 2003 ( Mountains of the Mind ) and has since gone on to become one of the most respected British travel writers alive today. His writings on nature and landscapes deal with man’s encounter with his surroundings. His writings convey an interest to improve the connection between mankind and the natural world, and his ‘trilogy’ of books, from his first in 2003 to The Wild Places (2007) and The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (2012), all grapple with this notion, highlighting how people and landscapes are altered through the ever-increasing industrialisation of the countryside.

Sara Wheeler

Notable for her travels across both Poles, Wheeler began writing about her adventures to Chile and Euboea, which resulted in Evica: Travels on an Undiscovered Greek Island (1992) and Chile: Travels in a Thin Country (1994). The success of these written works enabled her to depart for a seven-month trip to Antarctica, during which time she took influences from writings about the 1912 Terra Nova Expedition. Although most renowned for her travels in the North and South Poles, she has travelled extensively across Europe , Canada and America and her writings are exquisitely detailed narratives providing facts on history, anthology and geography.

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor was a distinguished scholar and writer, who took part in the Cretan resistance in World War II. His reputation as an academic, writer, maverick and free spirit has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest British travel writers of all time. His 1977 book A Time of Gifts covers the author’s travels on foot across parts of Europe, which he undertook between 1933 and 1934. During this time he would sleep in shelters and barns, and it is while he was in Europe that he built up much of his extensive knowledge about the cultures and societies he encountered within the time building up to World War II. His knowledgeable works span across the subjects of art, history and anthropology.

Bruce Chatwin

A writer of remarkable geniality, Bruce Chatwin’s dominant writings focus around Europe, Australia , Afghanistan , and South America , in addition to conveying his passion for the Islamic world. As a young intellectual, he worked for the revered auction house Sotheby’s, where he spent 10 years as an art specialist. His time here helped shape his written works and his incredibly acute attention to detail, the concise nature of which he applied to his writings. While the reliability of some of his content has been questioned, his writings remain completely original and unique. His modest collection of just five written works relative to his position as a household name in travel writing are evidence to the power with which his words leap off of the page.

Graham Greene

Born in Berkhamsted in the South of England , Graham Greene was both a travel writer and a writer of fiction, often addressing the problems with the moral code of contemporary society. His travel writings in particular discuss his trips outside England, into Europe and beyond. His first travel book, Journey Without Maps (1936) tackles the ever-popular way of travelling and writing: through walking. Greene took a 350-mile walk over four weeks, within the country of Liberia in 1935. These writings open up the rough reality of jungle trekking, and show Greene’s love of remote places while exposing the writer’s feelings toward his first trip outside of Europe. His books uncover secrets about the author himself, and enable the reader to learn a few things about themselves along the way.

Roger Deakin

Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, Roger Deakin published just one written work in his lifetime, Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey Through Britain (1999). The book records his incredible journey through the British Isles, which he records down with incredible depth and intimacy. His 1996 swimming trip led to some close shaves and humorous anecdotes, and provide a very unique viewpoint on modern Britain. His writings cross the boundaries of travel writing, autobiography, cultural and natural history. A great lover of nature, Deakin produced documentaries on the English countryside, in addition to actively working to preserve the woodland in Suffolk. Though only having one work published, his archive of notes is extensive.

Christina Dodwell

Founder of the Dodwell Trust, a charity involved in improving the lives of locals and the environment in Madagascar , Christina Dodwell has travelled more than most, including trips across Africa, Turkey , China, Siberia, and Papua New Guinea . Her journeys across the world span over 20 years, and her nine written works have been translated into five different languages. Recognised for her major achievements, she has been awarded the Mungo Park Medal. She is known for her courageous use of different transport methods, and her eventful trip to Africa in 1975 which resulted in her first book Travels with Fortune (1979). She has visited over 80 countries, and her writings provide an exciting look into her incredible life.

Jan Morris is a Welsh writer specialising in history and travel writing, and is known for her in-depth prose describing individual cities. In her early life she was famous for covering the expedition undertaken by John Hunt to Mount Everest in 1953 as a correspondent for The Times , and thus became one of Britain’s most well-known journalists. Using these skills, she has written thorough works on some of the world’s greatest cities, from Sydney to Hong Kong and Venice, in addition to incredible coverage of the French Air Force, with regards to their invasion of Egypt in 1956. She has a collection of essays titled Destinations (1980), which cover her travels over various destinations which serve as evidence of her wit and intellect.

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List of Famous Travel Writers

List of famous travel writers, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top travel writers in the world? This includes the most prominent travel writers, living and dead, both in America and abroad. This list of notable travel writers is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic travel writers were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned travel writers.

This list includes Douglas Kennedy, Jonathan Raban and more people.

Peter Fleming

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Peter Ellegard worldwide travel writing and photography

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Award-winning worldwide travel photography and travel writing, also specialising in golf photography and writing. Pictures available: landscapes, seascapes, sunrises, sunsets, exotic destinations, beaches, portraits, architecture, golf courses, US Civil War re-enactment, flora and fauna, and panoramics.

Peter Fleming (writer)

Robert Peter Fleming OBE DL (31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971) was a British adventurer, journalist, soldier and travel writer . [2] He was the elder brother of Ian Fleming , [3] creator of James Bond , and attained the British military rank of Lieutenant Colonel .

Second World War

Later life and death, fleming's works, non-fiction, external links.

Peter Fleming was one of four sons of the barrister and Member of Parliament (MP) Valentine Fleming , who was killed in action during World War I in 1917, having served as MP for Henley from 1910. Fleming was educated at Durnford School and at Eton , where he edited the Eton College Chronicle . The Peter Fleming Owl (the English meaning of "Strix", the name under which he later wrote for The Spectator ) is still awarded every year to the best contributor to the Chronicle . [4] He went on from Eton to Christ Church, Oxford , and graduated with a first-class degree in English.

Fleming was a member of the Bullingdon Club during his time at Oxford. [5] On 10 December 1935 he married the actress Celia Johnson (1908–1982), best known for her roles in the films Brief Encounter and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie . [6]

In April 1932 Fleming replied to an advertisement in the personal columns of The Times : "Exploring and sporting expedition, under experienced guidance, leaving England June to explore rivers central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Percy Fawcett ; abundant game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns; highest references expected and given." He then joined the expedition, organised by Robert Churchward, to São Paulo, then overland to the rivers Araguaia and Tapirapé , heading towards the last-known position of the Fawcett expedition.

During the inward journey the expedition was riven by increasing disagreements as to its objectives and plans, centred particularly on its local leader, whom Fleming disguised as "Major Pingle" when he wrote about the expedition. Fleming and Roger Pettiward (a school and university friend recruited onto the expedition as a result of a chance encounter with Fleming) led a breakaway group.

This group continued for several days up the Tapirapé to São Domingo, from where Fleming, Pettiward, Neville Priestley and one of the Brazilians hired by the expedition set out to find evidence of Fawcett's fate on their own. After acquiring two Tapirapé guides the party began a march to the area where Fawcett was reported to have last been seen. They made slow progress for several days, losing the Indian guides and Neville to foot infection, before admitting defeat.

The expedition's return journey was made down the River Araguaia to Belém . It became a closely fought race between Fleming's party and "Major Pingle", the prize being to be the first to report home, and thus to gain the upper hand in the battles over blame and finances that were to come. Fleming's party narrowly won. The expedition returned to England in November 1932.

Fleming's book about the expedition, Brazilian Adventure , has sold well ever since it was first published in 1933, and is still in print. [ as of? ]

Fleming travelled from Moscow to Peking via the Caucasus, the Caspian, Samarkand, Tashkent, the Turksib Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway to Peking as a special correspondent of The Times . His experiences were written up in One's Company (1934). He then went overland in company of Ella Maillart from China via Tunganistan to India on a journey written up in News from Tartary (1936). These two books were combined as Travels in Tartary: One's Company and News from Tartary (1941). All three volumes were published by Jonathan Cape.

According to Nicolas Clifford, for Fleming China "had the aspect of a comic opera land whose quirks and oddities became grist for the writer, rather than deserving any respect or sympathy in themselves". [7] In One's Company , for example, Fleming reports that Beijing was "lacking in charm", Harbin was a city of "no easily definable character". Changchun was "entirely characterless", and Shenyang was "non-descript and suburban". However, Fleming also provides insights into Manchukuo , the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria , which helped contemporary readers to understand Chinese resentment and resistance, and the aftermath of the Kumul Rebellion . In the course of these travels Fleming met and interviewed many prominent figures in Central Asia and China, including the Chinese Muslim General Ma Hushan , the Chinese Muslim Taoyin of Kashgar , Ma Shaowu , and Puyi .

Of Travels in Tartary , Owen Lattimore remarked that Fleming, who "passes for an easy-going amateur, is in fact an inspired amateur whose quick appreciation, especially of people, and original turn of phrase, echoing P. G. Wodehouse in only a very distant and cultured way, have created a unique kind of travel book". Lattimore added that it "is only in the political news from Tartary that there is a disappointment", as, in his view, Fleming offers "a simplified explanation, in terms of Red intrigue and Bolshevik villains, which does not make sense." [8]

Stuart Stevens retraced Peter Fleming's route and wrote his own travel book. [9]

Just before war was declared, Peter Fleming, then a reserve officer in the Grenadier Guards , was recruited by the War Office research section investigating the potential of irregular warfare (MIR). His initial task was to develop ideas to assist the Chinese guerrillas fighting the Japanese. He served in the Norwegian campaign with the prototype commando units – Independent Companies – but in May 1940 he was tasked with research into the potential use of the new Local Defence Volunteers (later the Home Guard) as guerrilla troops. His ideas were first incorporated into General Thorne's XII Corps Observation Unit, forerunner of the GHQ Auxiliary Units . Fleming recruited his brother, Richard, then serving in the Faroe Islands , to provide a core of Lovat Scout instructors to his teams of LDV volunteers. [10]

Meanwhile, Fleming wrote a speculative novel called The Flying Visit in which he imagined Adolf Hitler flying to Britain to propose peace with that nation, only to have United Kingdom let him return in light of the awkward diplomatic quandary he placed the British government in. It proved bizarrely prescient in 1941 when Hitler's Deputy, Rudolf Hess , did that exact excursion into Britain and Britain found their new high ranked Nazi prisoner cumbersome for their foreign and propaganda policies. [11]

When Colin Gubbins was appointed to head the new Auxiliary Units , he incorporated many of Peter's ideas, which aimed to create secret commando teams of Home Guard in the coastal districts most liable to the risk of invasion. Their role was to launch sabotage raids on the flanks and rear of any invading army, in support of regular troops, but they were never intended as a post-occupation 'resistance' force, having a life expectancy of only two weeks. [12]

Peter Fleming later served in Greece, but his principal service, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of D Division, [13] in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia, based in New Delhi , India. He was scheduled to take part in the second Chindit operation, but this was cut short by the premature crash landing of a defective glider. The episode is described in an appendix Fleming contributed to Michael Calvert's book on the operation. [14]

Fleming was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1945 Birthday Honours and in 1948 he was awarded the Order of the Cloud and Banner with Special Rosette by the Republic of China . [15] [16]

After the war Peter Fleming retired to squiredom at Nettlebed , Oxfordshire and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire on 31 July 1970. [17]

Fleming died on 18 August 1971 from a heart attack while on a shooting expedition near Glen Coe in Scotland . His body was buried in the graveyard of St Bartholomew’s Church in Nettlebed, where a stained glass window dedicated to his memory was later installed in the church. [18] The gravestone has verses he wrote himself:

He travelled widely in far places; Wrote, and was widely read. Soldiered, saw some of danger's faces, Came home to Nettlebed.

The squire lies here, his journeys ended – Dust, and a name on a stone – Content, amid the lands he tended, To keep this rendezvous alone. [19]

After the death of his brother Ian in 1964, Peter Fleming served on the board of Glidrose , Ltd, the company purchased by Ian to hold the literary rights to his professional writing, particularly the James Bond novels and short stories. Peter also tried to become a substitute father for Ian's surviving son, Caspar, who overdosed on narcotics in his twenties.

Peter and Celia Fleming remained married until his death in 1971. He was survived by their three children:

• Nicholas Peter Val Fleming (1939–1995), writer and squire of Nettlebed. He deposited Peter Fleming's papers for public access at the University of Reading in 1975. These include several unpublished works, as well as the manuscripts of several of his books that are now out of print. From his early twenties, he lived with his partner Christopher Balfour, a merchant banker. [20]
• (Roberta) Katherine Fleming (born 1946), writer and publisher, is now Kate Grimond, wife of Johnny Grimond, foreign editor of The Economist . Johnny is the elder surviving son of the late British Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond , and grandson maternally of Violet Bonham-Carter , herself daughter of the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith . Kate and John have three children, Jessie (a journalist), Rose (an actress turned organic foods entrepreneur) and Georgia (a journalist, formerly at The Economist online, now living and freelancing in Rio de Janeiro).
• Lucy Fleming (born 1947) is an actress. In the 1970s she starred as Jenny in the BBC's apocalyptic fiction series Survivors . She was first married in 1971 to Joseph "Joe" Laycock (died 1980), son of a family friend Robert Laycock and his wife Angela Dudley Ward, and was on honeymoon at the time of her father's sudden death in Argyllshire. Lucy and Joe had two sons and a daughter, Flora. Flora and her father, Joe, were drowned in a boating accident in 1980. At the time of their deaths Lucy and Joe were separated on good terms. Lucy later married the actor and writer Simon Williams . Her sons are Diggory and Robert Laycock.

Peter Fleming was the godfather of the British author and journalist Duff Hart-Davis , who wrote Peter Fleming: A Biography (published by Jonathan Cape in 1974). Duff's father Rupert Hart-Davis , a publisher, was a close friend of Peter, who gave Rupert a home on the Nettlebed estate for many years and financial backing to his publishing ventures.

The Peter Fleming Award, worth £9,000, is given by the Royal Geographical Society for a "research project that seeks to advance geographical science". [21]

Fleming's book about the British military expedition to Tibet in 1903 to 1904 is credited in the Chinese film Red River Valley (1997).

• " São Paulo is like Reading , only much farther away." – Brazilian Adventure
• "Public opinion in England is sharply divided on the subject of Russia. On the one hand you have the crusty majority, who believe it to be a hell on earth; on the other you have the half-baked minority who believe it to be a terrestrial paradise in the making. Both cling to their opinions with the tenacity, respectively, of the die-hard and the fanatic. Both are hopelessly wrong." – One's Company
• The recorded history of Chinese civilisation covers a period of four thousand years.

Fleming was a special correspondent for The Times and often wrote under the pen-name "Strix" (Latin for "screech owl") as an essayist for The Spectator .

• 1933 Brazilian Adventure – Exploring the Brazilian jungle in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett .
• 1934 One's Company : A Journey to China in 1933 – Travels through the USSR, Manchuria and China. Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary .
• 1936 News from Tartary : A Journey from Peking to Kashmir – Journey from Peking to Srinagar via Sinkiang . He was accompanied on this journey by Ella Maillart (Kini). Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary .
• 1952 A Forgotten Journey – A diary Fleming kept during a journey through Russia and Manchuria in 1934. Reprinted as To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria (2009, ISBN   978-1-84511-996-6 )
• 1953 Introduction to Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London [22]
• 1955 Tibetan Marches – A translation from French of Caravane vers Bouddha by André Migot
• 1956 My Aunt's Rhinoceros: And Other Reflections — A collection of essays written (as "Strix") for The Spectator . Published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London.
• 1957 Invasion 1940 — an account of the planned Nazi invasion of Britain and British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War . Published in the United States as Operation Sea Lion
• 1957 With the Guards to Mexico: And Other Excursions — A collection of essays written for The Spectator . Published by Rupert Hart-Davis, London.
• 1958 The Gower Street Poltergeist — A collection of essays written for The Spectator .
• 1959 The Siege at Peking — An account of the Boxer Rebellion and the European-led siege of the Imperial capital.
• 1961 Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of Tibet in 1904
• 1961 Goodbye to the Bombay Bowler — A collection of essays written for The Spectator as 'Strix'.
• 1963 The Fate of Admiral Kolchak — a study of the White Army leader Admiral Kolchak who led the anti-Bolshevik movement in Siberia from November 1918 to January 1920.
• 1940 The Flying Visit – A humorous novel about an unintended visit to Britain by Adolf Hitler . Illustrated by David Low .
• 1942 A Story to Tell; and other Tales — A collection of short stories.
• 1951 The Sixth Column. A Singular Tale of Our Times — A humorous novella, around the idea of random traitors acting merely because they are in position to act, unlike fifth columnists with established ideological or command connections to foreign powers.
• The Sett (unfinished, unpublished) [23]
• "The Kill" (1931) [24]
• "Felipe" (1937) [25]
• 1932 Spectator's Gallery: Essays, Sketches, Short Stories & Poems from The Spectator — editor with Derek Verschoyle .
• 1933 Variety: Essays, Sketches and Stories — illustrated by Roger Pettiward.

Related Research Articles

Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his Hugh Walpole (1952), as an editor, for his Collected Letters of Oscar Wilde (1962), and, as both editor and part-author, for the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters .

Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson , was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She is especially known for her roles in the films In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944), Brief Encounter (1945) and The Captain's Paradise (1953). For Brief Encounter , she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. A six-time BAFTA Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband , was a British Army officer, explorer and spiritual writer. He is remembered for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet, led by himself, and for his writings on Asia and foreign policy. Younghusband held positions including British commissioner to Tibet and president of the Royal Geographical Society.

Ella Maillart was a Swiss adventurer, travel writer and photographer, as well as a sportswoman.

Tartary or Tatary was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Ural Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the northern borders of China, India and Persia, at a time when this region was largely unknown to European geographers.

Évariste Régis Huc , C.M., also known as the Abbé Huc (1813–1860), was a French Catholic priest, Lazarite missionary, and traveller. He became famous for his accounts of Qing-era China, Mongolia, and especially the then-almost-unknown Tibet in his book Remembrances of a Journey in Tartary, Tibet, and China . He and his companion Joseph Gabet were the first Europeans who had reached Lhasa since Thomas Manning in 1812.

Wilhelm Filchner was a German army officer, scientist and explorer. He conducted several surveys and scientific investigations in China, Tibet and surrounding regions, and led the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–13.

Percy Harrison Fawcett was a British geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist, and explorer of South America. Fawcett disappeared in 1925 during an expedition to find an ancient lost city which he and others believed existed in the Amazon rainforest.

William Moorcroft was an English veterinarian and explorer employed by the East India Company. Moorcroft travelled extensively throughout the Himalayas, Tibet and Central Asia, eventually reaching Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan.

Brazilian Adventure is a book by Peter Fleming about his search for the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett in the Brazilian jungle. The book was initially published in 1933 by Alden Press.

One's Company: A Journey to China is a travel book by Peter Fleming, correspondent for The Times of London , describing his journey day-by-day from London through Moscow and the Trans-Siberian Railway, then through Japanese-run Manchukuo, then on to Nanking, the capital of China in the 1930s, with a glimpse of “Red China”. It was reissued as half of Travels in Tartary .

News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir is a 1936 travel book by Peter Fleming, describing his journey and the political situation of Turkestan.

Batang Town , officially Xiaqiong Town , is a town in Batang County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the China on the main route between Chengdu and Lhasa, Tibet, and just east of the Jinsha River, or Upper Yangtze River. It is at an elevation of 2,700 metres.

André Migot (1892–1967) was a French doctor, traveler and writer.

Between 1858 and 1860, the Russian Empire annexed territories adjoining the Amur River belonging to the Chinese Qing dynasty through the imposition of unequal treaties. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun, signed by the general Nikolay Muravyov representing the Russian Empire and the official Yishan representing Qing China, ceded Priamurye—a territory stretching from the Amur River north to the Stanovoy Mountains, but the Qing government initially refused to recognize the treaty's validity. Two years later, the Second Opium War concluded with the Convention of Peking, which affirmed the previous treaty as well as an additional cession including the entire Pacific coast to the Korean border, as well as the island of Sakhalin to Russia. These two territories roughly correspond to modern-day Amur Oblast and Primorsky Krai, respectively. Collectively, they are often referred to as Outer Manchuria, part of the greater region of Manchuria.

Major-General Sir Hamilton St Clair Bower was a British Indian Army officer who wrote about his travels through Xinjiang and Tibet.

The New 36th Division was a cavalry division in the National Revolutionary Army. It was created in 1932 by the Kuomintang for General Ma Zhongying, who was also its first commander. It was made almost entirely out of Hui Muslim troops, all of its officers were Hui, with a few thousand Uighurs forced conscripts in the rank and file. It was commonly referred to as the " KMT 36th Division ", or " Tungan 36th Division ".

The Charkhlik revolt was a Uighur uprising in 1935 against Chinese Muslim-dominated Tunganistan, which was administered by the New 36th Division. The Chinese Muslim troops quickly and brutally defeated the Uighur revolt. Over 100 Uighurs were executed. The revolt leader's family were made hostages.

The Second Battle of Ürümqi was a conflict in the winter of 1933–1934 at Ürümqi, between the provincial forces of Sheng Shicai and the alliance of the Chinese Muslim Gen. Ma Zhongying and Han Chinese Gen. Zhang Peiyuan. Zhang seized the road between Tacheng and the capital. Sheng Shicai commanded Manchurian troops and a unit of White Russian soldiers, led by Col. Pappengut. The Kuomintang Republic of China government had secretly incited Zhang and Ma to overthrow Sheng—even as they prepared to swear him in as governor of Xinjiang—because of his ties to the Soviet Union. Chinese Nationalist leader Gen. Chiang Kai-shek sent Luo Wen'gan to Xinjiang, where he met with Ma Zhongying and Zhang Peiyuan and urged them to destroy Sheng.

Joseph Gabet was a French Catholic Lazarite missionary. He was active in Northern China and Mongolia before traveling to Tibet with Évariste Huc. Expelled and arrested, he died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• ↑ "Peter Fleming, 64, a British writer" . New York Times . 20 August 1971. p.   36.
• ↑ "Obituary Colonel Peter Fleming, Author and explorer". The Times , 20 August 1971 p14 column F.
• ↑ "Authors" . www.queenannepress.co.uk . Archived from the original on 2 April 2016 . Retrieved 3 May 2017 .
• ↑ "Captain Peter Fleming" . www.coleshillhouse.com . Retrieved 13 May 2019 .
• ↑ "Expedition Fleming: Writer, Traveller, Soldier, Spy" . Artistic Licence Renewed . 5 October 2017 . Retrieved 13 May 2019 .
• ↑ "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online   ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi : 10.1093/ref:odnb/31289 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• ↑ Nicholas J. Clifford. "A Truthful Impression of the Country": British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880–1949. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. pp. 132–33
• ↑ Pacific Affairs 9.4 (1936): 605–606
• ↑ Stuart Stevens (1988). Night Train to Turkistan: Modern Adventures Along China's Ancient Silk Road . Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN   978-0-87113-190-4 . turki merchants gifts.
• ↑ Alan Ogden. Master of Deception: The Wartime Adventures of Peter Fleming (2019)
• ↑ Neidel, Indy. "Rudolf Hess – Nazi Pacifist, Traitor or Madman?" . World War II . YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 . Retrieved 13 May 2020 .
• ↑ Atkin, Malcolm (2015). Fighting Nazi Occupation: british Resistance 1939–1945 . Barnsley: Pen and Sword. pp.   24, 26, 31, –2, 56–61, 66, 72, 76–7, 87, 172, 181. ISBN   978-1-47383-377-7 .
• ↑ "Captain Peter Fleming" . coleshillhouse.com . Retrieved 3 May 2017 .
• ↑ Calvert, M. Prisoners of Hope, Pen and Sword 1995, ISBN   978-0850524925
• ↑ "No. 37119" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 1945. p.   2943.
• ↑ "No. 38288" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1948. p.   2921.
• ↑ "No. 45170" . The London Gazette . 11 August 1970. p.   8872.
• ↑ 'Grave of Capt. Peter Fleming', film of Fleming's grave, published on YouTube, 26 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Xsy3YgqlY
• ↑ Hart-Davis, Duff (1987) Peter Fleming . Oxford: Oxford University Press; p. 401
• ↑ Hope, Jonathan (9 June 1995). "OBITUARIES: Nichol Fleming" . The Independent . Retrieved 5 May 2009 .
• ↑ "Peter Fleming Award" . Rgs.org. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011 . Retrieved 27 October 2010 .
• ↑ Harrer, Heinrich. "Seven Years in Tibet" . The Internet Archive . Retrieved 2 May 2017 .
• ↑ Hart-Davis 1974 , p.   316.
• ↑ "Bibliography: The Kill" . Internet Speculative Fiction Database .
• ↑ "Bibliography: Felipe" . Internet Speculative Fiction Database .
• Hart-Davis, Duff (1974). Peter Fleming: A Biography . London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN   0-224-01028-X .
• Clifford, Nicholas J (2001). A Truthful Impression of the Country: British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880–1949 . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press . ISBN   0472111973 .
• La Gazette des Français du Paraguay – Peter Fleming Un Aventurier au Brésil – Peter Fleming Un Aventurero en Brasil – Numéro 5 Année 1, Asunción Paraguay.
• A short biography provided by the University of Reading
• A profile stressing his travel writing
• Peter Fleming's daughters
• Source for the death date of his son Nicholas Fleming at ianfleming.org
• Peter Fleming's rook rifle – a correspondence Archived 18 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• Peter Fleming at IMDb
• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature . Chicago: Shasta Publishers.
• Podcast talk and live blogging at the Shanghai International Book Festival with Paul French's talk on Peter Fleming
• Paul French, "Peter Fleming"
• Translated Penguin Book – at Penguin First Editions reference site of early first edition Penguin Books.
• I.B. Tauris published Fleming's To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria (out of stock 4/18) , News from Tartary and Bayonets to Lhasa: The British Invasion of Tibet ; also its A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony by Julia Boyd includes Fleming among its subjects.

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14 Best Travel Authors of All Time

Here are some of the best travel authors that you will want to read to gain inspiration about the art of traveling.

There are times when we simply want to escape the mundanity of everyday life and explore an exotic location like Arabia or Mexico. Yet when travel is not possible, a book can take us where we want to go. Exploring the world through the writing of travel authors can give us a sense of wonder, even when we have to stay at home.

If you are hoping to learn more about the world, put down the guidebook and pick up a more engaging work by one of these top travel authors . You will read a great story while also gaining some travel experience. These 14 authors are ones you will want to grab from Amazon to read today.

1. Bill Bryson

2. paul theroux, 3. bruce chatwin, 4. eric newby, 5. ernest hemingway, 6. graham greene, 7. jack kerouac, 8. freya stark, 9. jan morris, 10. john steinbeck, 11. peter mayle, 12. anthony bourdain, 13. elizabeth gilbert, 14. pico iyer, best travel authors ranked.

Bill Bryson  is an American and British author whose book Notes from a Small Island, showcasing travel in Britain, brought him to prominence among travel writers. His travel books include works about travel in America, England, Australia, Africa, and other countries in Europe.

Bryson started his adult life as a student at Drake University, but he dropped out to backpack in Europe after two years. Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe chronicled these adventures. This trip caused him to move to Europe permanently, settling in Britain in 1977.

Early in life, Bryson worked as a journalist and copy editor. In 2014, he took the citizenship test to earn dual citizenship in the UK and America. Bryson’s extensive work earned him several honorary doctorates from schools in America and the UK.

• Bryson, Bill (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 324 Pages - 05/15/2001 (Publication Date) - William Morrow Paperbacks (Publisher)

Paul Theroux was born in Massachusetts in 1941, and he earned his acclaim as a novelist and travel writer. The Great Railway Bazaar is one of his most famous works in the travel genre. 

Throughout his career, Theroux experienced some controversy. For example, Singapore banned his novel, Saint Jack, for over 30 years because of its content.

Throughout his life, Theroux lived in several countries, including Uganda, Singapore, and England, in London specifically. He returned to the United States in the 1990s and continues to write today. Looking for more books to binge on a weekend? Check out the best books for beach reading . Or you can also search for our best book guides using our search bar.

• Theroux, Paul (Author)
• 352 Pages - 06/01/2006 (Publication Date) - Mariner Books (Publisher)

Bruce Chatwin considered himself a storyteller, not a travel writer, but his first book, In Patagonia, solidified him in the genre. He got to travel much of the world working as a reporter for The Sunday Times Magazine, interviewing political figures. This helped him gather more tales for his travel books.

Chatwin was born in England and went to Marlborough College. He worked for a time at Sotheby’s, where he gained knowledge of and appreciation for art. 

Throughout Chatwin’s body of work, the theme of human restlessness is clear. He believed humans had a genetic predisposition to wanderlust, and his works helped fuel that. You might also be interested in these essays about traveling and essays about journeys .

• Bruce Chatwin (Author)
• 240 Pages - 03/01/2003 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Eric Newby was an English travel writer known for A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, The Last Grain Race, and A Small Place in Italy. He was born in London in 1919 and died in 2006 at 86. His famous travel work The Last Grain Race chronicled his experience on a Finnish ship that took part in a voyage from Australia to Europe past Cape Horn. 

Newby was a prolific writer, with 25 books to his name. His travel writing included some of his stories from being captured as a prisoner of war in the Adriatic during World War II, which he wrote about in Love and War in the Apennines. 

Newby continued writing until 2003, three years before his death. Many of his works included his own photography.

• Newby, Eric (Author)
• 288 Pages - 05/07/2024 (Publication Date) - HarperPress (Publisher)

Ernest Hemingway was a  Nobel Prize-winning author  who wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, which spoke of the Civil War in Spain. His travel books include Green Hills of Africa, which talks about his time on safari.

Hemingway grew up in Illinois and joined the military during World War I. He got his first taste of international travel on the Italian front of the war. He also served during WWII, working as a journalist and foreign correspondent. 

He fell in love with Paris and chose to live there as an ex-pat for some time. His time there was the story behind The Sun Also Rises, another of his famous works. In addition to traveling and writing, Hemingway was a keen sportsman.

• Hemingway, Ernest (Author)
• 480 Pages - 07/01/1995 (Publication Date) - Scribner (Publisher)

Graham Greene was a British writer who lived from 1925 to 1991. He often brought conflicting moral and political issues into his writing, and he earned the Shakespeare Prize and the Jerusalem Prize for his works. 

Greene traveled extensively to find subject matter for his books, which led him to get recruited for MI6, the British espionage agency. As a result, many of his works, including The Comedians and his memoir My Silent War, include settings pulled from his travels. 

Greene often wrote about remote places, which earned him a spot as one of the best travel writers, but he was more prominently known as a thriller and political writer. 

• Greene, Graham (Author)
• 320 Pages - 01/25/2005 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Jack Kerouac was an American poet and novelist known for Big Sur and The Dharma Burns. His prose is known for its spontaneity, and he covers a wide range of themes in his writing. Though he grew up in Massachusetts, his home was French-speaking, so he often spoke with a French accent. 

Like many travel writers, Kerouac got his taste for international travel during World War II, where he served as a Marine. He published a total of 14 novels during his lifetime and also several volumes of poetry. 

On the Road is one of his most famous travel works. It chronicles a road trip Kerouac once took with Neal Cassady. A heavy drinker, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage at the age of 47. 

• Jack Kerouac (Author)
• 293 Pages - 06/01/1999 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Freya Stark was an explorer and travel writer who lived in the early 1900s. She had dual British and Italian citizenship and lived in many parts of Europe, including Italy and France. The book One Thousand and One Nights, which she received for her ninth birthday, inspired a love for Asia and the Orient, which later fueled her passion for exploration. 

Stark took many excursions into the Middle East, including dangerous countries like Lebanon, Baghdad, and Iraq, and these became part of her writings. The Valleys of the Assassins, which she published in 1934, is one of her famous works, and it describes some of her early travels. 

Throughout her life, Stark continued to travel extensively. She helped the British in both World War I and World War II. Her adventure travel writings earned her the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

• Stark, Freya (Author)
• 320 Pages - 07/24/2001 (Publication Date) - Random House Publishing Group (Publisher)

 Yet another English travel writer, Jan Morris, lived in Great Britain and Wales. She was born James Morris, and while living as a male, she was part of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition – the first time the mountain was traversed. 

Last Letters from Hav was one of Morris’s most engaging travel novels. She described it as an imagined travelogue and political thriller. She also published several books on travel to Trieste and Venice. 

Morris died in 2020 at the age of 94. She was famous for being one of the first high-profile individuals to make a gender transition. She traveled to Morocco for the necessary surgery when British doctors refused to perform it. 

• Morris, Jan (Author)
• 203 Pages - 02/18/1989 (Publication Date) - Vintage Books / Random House (Publisher)

American author John Steinbeck is most famous for his novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940. The Grapes of Wrath sold 14 million copies in just the first 75 years of publication. 

Not all of Steinbeck’s works are travel works, but in 1943 he became a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. A role that took him overseas. This gave him new settings for his stories beyond California, and some of his works became known as travel books. For example, his A Russian Journal included photographs and first-hand accounts of his visit to the Soviet Union in 1947. 

In 1960 Steinbeck embarked on a road trip with his dog, Charley, which created the scenes for Travels with Charley: In Search of America. This piece of travel literature is a travel memoir that perfectly captures what it means to be American, even the different flavors of America seen across the country. 

• Steinbeck, John (Author)
• 277 Pages - 01/31/1980 (Publication Date) - Penguin Books (Publisher)

Peter Mayle  is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Year in Provence. He has 14 books to his name, including both non-fiction works and travel novels. A Year in Provence was his first book, and it has six million copies in forty languages to date. 

Mayle was born in 1939 in England, and he started his literary career writing educational books, not travel stories. However, he eventually moved to southern France as an expatriate, which served as fodder for his most famous works. In 1989 the British Book Awards called A Year in Provence the Best Travel Book of the Year.

Mayle died in 2018 at the age of 78. He was still living in Provence at the time. In addition to his work as an author, he also worked as an advertising copywriter. 

• Great product!
• Bourdain, Anthony (Author)
• 312 Pages - 01/09/2007 (Publication Date) - Ecco (Publisher)

Anthony Bourdain is a chef who also traveled the world. He writes on both cooking and travel, and A Cook’s Tour is one book that combines both into one interesting tour of the dining and culture of the world. 

Bourdain’s books are known for their whit, and his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2000. Many of his works tied in with his television series. 

In addition to writing, Bourdain hosted several travel shows for television. His work for these shows fueled some of his great travel and cooking books. Are you searching for books to give to someone? Check out our round-up of the best books to give ! Or you can also search for our best book guides using our search bar.

In Eat, Pray, Love,  Elizabeth Gilbert  takes the reader to Italy, Indonesia and India. The book’s theme is finding self-love and inner devotion, but it fits the travel genre because of its exploration of these locations. 

Gilbert was born in Connecticut in 1969 and grew up on a Christmas tree farm. She started writing short stories while in college, and she traveled throughout America during her young adult years, which provided some ideas for her books.

The popularity of Eat, Pray, Love, and the movie based on the book earned her a spot on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

• Gilbert, Elizabeth (Author)
• 400 Pages - 01/30/2007 (Publication Date) - Riverhead Books (Publisher)

Pico Iyer was a close friend of the Buddhist leader Dali Lama, which comes into play in his book The Open Road. In this book, he encourages readers to look into the themes of Buddhism as they relate to life. 

Iyer traveled to Cuba, Ethiopia, and Kathmandu throughout his life, and those places influenced his writing. Though he was born to Indian parents and raised in California, he currently resides in Western Japan. His Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World showcases his travel writing style as he explores places not often found in travel guidebooks.

Because of the Buddhist influence in his life, Iyer’s works are very introspective. Often causing the reader to think about human nature just as much as they inspire thought about travel. If you liked this post, you might also be interested in these authors like Bill Bryson .

• Iyer, Pico (Author)
• 288 Pages - 03/10/2009 (Publication Date) - Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Publisher)

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

British tourist ‘aware and can communicate’ after shark attack

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A British man savaged by a shark off a Caribbean island is now well enough to communicate and is ‘aware of what is happening’.

Peter Smith, 64, is still in intensive care after sustaining severe injuries to his left hand, left thigh and stomach from the enormous bull shark .

His wife Jo said in a statement through the BBC: ‘As of 9am local time today, Peter is aware of what is happening and is able to communicate a little, although he is still under strong medication.’

She thanked ‘two friends’ who remained in the water during the attack to ‘battle’ the shark, estimated to be 8ft to 10ft long and 2ft wide.

The pensioner, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was swimming 10 metres off the shore near the Starfish Hotel in Courland Bay, Tobago, when he was attacked by the predator on Friday morning.

Although the full extent of Mr Smith’s injuries is yet to be known, it is believed his left hand was severed from the elbow down, his left thigh was severed and he received severe lacerations to his stomach.

Chief secretary Farley Augustine told reporters that Mr Smith was in a ‘critical, but stable’ condition at Scarborough General Hospital on Saturday after surgery had taken place and was on the road to recovery.

He said the man had been holidaying on the island with his wife and friends and had been due to fly home later that day.

The attack prompted the coastguard to close down seven beaches as they attempted to contain the threat, and a 10,000 US dollar bounty previously offered to anyone who could capture the shark was later retracted.

Mr Augustine added that the local government was working closely with the British High Commission.

The Foreign Office said it was supporting the family.

Last year, there were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked bites worldwide, along with 14 fatalities, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.

There have been only two recorded shark attacks as far south as Tobago in the last 20 years, and neither was within 200 miles of the island itself.

The vast majority of shark attacks in the region occur further north, in the central Caribbean and off the eastern and southern coasts of the US.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .

For more stories like this, check our news page .

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Briton killed in Marrakech bomb attack

A British travel writer has been named among the 16 victims of a terrorist bomb explosion at a busy tourist cafe in Marrakech.

Peter Moss, 59, was at the Argana cafe in the popular Jamaa el-Fnaa square when a remote-controlled nail bomb was detonated at lunchtime.

A video released before the attack by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb reportedly claimed responsibility, with terrorism experts saying the group was one of several likely candidates.

Moss, a father-of-two, was a writer, broadcaster and comedian.

At the British Press Awards in 2004, while working for the Jewish Chronicle, he was celebrated as "one of the country's finest travel writers, with an unmatched eye for detail".

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said: "While we do not yet know the exact cause of the blast, reports from the Moroccan authorities are that this may have been a result of terrorism. An act of this kind, causing the death of 16 innocent people, is cruel and wrong, and I condemn it in the strongest terms."

As investigations continued into the blast, the country's deadliest for eight years, Moroccan authorities said the bomb had been packed with nails and set off remotely and not by a suicide bomber.

Jamaa el-Fnaa square, next to the city's historic market area, draws crowds of tourists with its snake charmers, fire-eaters and tooth pullers.

Most of the dead were foreign nationals – including French, Dutch and Canadian tourists – and at least 23 others were injured by the explosion.

British ambassador Tim Morris has travelled to Marrakech to bolster the UK team dealing with the aftermath and Interpol has described the attack as "senseless and deplorable".

While police from both Morocco and Spain could be seen working in the wreckage, friends and family of the victims gathered at the city's Ibn Tofail hospital.

Mouhou Rachid, a cafe worker, said at least one of his co-workers had died and another was in hospital with serious injuries.

"The explosion was terrible. When I recovered consciousness I saw people picking up victims. My friend has injuries in the stomach, face and head."

Israel's foreign ministry said two of the victims, a man and a woman, were Jews living in Shanghai and that the woman apparently had Israeli citizenship.

The attack is the deadliest in Morocco since 12 suicide bombers killed 33 people in co-ordinated strikes in Casablanca in 2003.

The latest attack was a blow to Morocco's most important tourist city. Tourism is Morocco's biggest source of foreign currency and the second biggest employer after agriculture.

"We are going to work very hard so that this does not have an impact on tourism in Marrakesh," said Salaheddine Mezouar, the finance minister."To go to a country as a tourist and return dead is a terrible thing."

Fernando Reinares, a terrorism expert at Spain's Royal Elcano Institute, told RNE radio there were few doubts that jihadists were behind the attack.

"Morocco and its monarchy are a target for al-Qaida and for the north African groups that have been associated with al-Qaida."

The attack adds to the challenges facing Morocco's ruler, King Mohammed VI, as he tries to prevent the uprisings in the Arab world from reaching his normally stable kingdom.

He recently pardoned a raft of political prisoners, including some alleged militant Islamists.

The monarch has promised to reform the constitution to placate pro-democracy protesters. But more protests are planned for Sunday.

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